Despite the Houston Rockets struggling against the Portland Trail Blazers in this year's playoffs, head coach Kevin McHale still enjoys the support of the management and his key players which could mean that the team may pick up their option on his contract.
ESPN is reporting that while the Rockets have lost two home games against the Blazers and are in danger of getting an early boot, general manager Daryl Morey and key players Dwight Howard and Chandler Parsons still have their confidence in McHale.
As ESPN puts it, the consensus within the franchise is that McHale 'deserves more than one more season with this group, especially since the Rockets have the youngest roster in the playoffs with an average age of 25.7 years. The same website is saying that Rockets owner Les Alexander still likes McHale.
The Rockets were considered the winners of last year's free agent circus after nabbing the services of Howard. While the team fared well in the regular season with a 54-28 record, they have been stunned by the Blazers thus far in the playoffs thanks to the stellar play of All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge.
All season long, the Rockets tried to snatch a reliable power forward who can space the floor for Howard to operate as well as a guard who can feed the ball to the big men inside. The Rockets wanted to trade back-up center Omer Asik, but Morey eventually kept the Turkish big man in the line-up.
In their series against Portland, McHale said the Blazers' defense has been the difference. He told ESPN: "Give their defense a lot of credit; they've got us stopped up a bit. But when we have a chance to get out and run and get stops, we gotta do that. That's what we do."
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